Ukraine nuclear reactor shutdown

KIEV, Ukraine (March 30, 2000 9:57 a.m. EST
http://www.nandotimes.com) - Operation of a
nuclear reactor was stopped at a Ukrainian
atomic power plant Thursday to fix a metal flaw
in its steam pipe, the third unplanned reactor
shutdown in the former Soviet republic this
month.

The Rivne plant's reactor No. 3 was expected to
resume operation Friday, the state nuclear
company Energoatom said.

The same reactor was stopped earlier this
month to fix an oil leak. Another reactor, at the
Yuzhnaya plant, also was halted in March for
unplanned repairs.

Several reactor output reductions, caused by
various malfunctions, also were reported in
March at the Zaporizhia plant and Chernobyl,
site of the world's worst nuclear accident in
1986.

Environmentalists are concerned about the
state of Ukraine's five nuclear power plants, but
officials insist that their reactors are generally
safe.

The government has promised to shut down
Chernobyl, which causes special worries, by
the end of 2000 but wants foreign aid first to
build two new reactors that would compensate
for Chernobyl's lost power.

Ukraine's 14 operational reactors provide for
some 40 percent of the country's electricity.